STORY HIGHLIGHTS

Talk BRICS：Round-Up

CNC

Added On September 6, 2017

Hello and welcome to our final Talk BRICS. Now that the 9th BRICS Summit in China's Xiamen has officially ended, we've got a round-up of the top three points you should takeaway from this year's meeting.

So sit back, as we give you our round-up of the top 3 key points from the 2017 BRICS Summit.

Number one: BRICS Plus

This was the hottest topic at this year's Summit. The BRICS Plus model proposes to expand the BRICS group, by bringing more emerging economies into the bloc. BRICS Plus would help give other developing countries with similar profiles a stronger voice on the global stage.

And to promote this, there was the Dialogue of Emerging Markets and Developing Countries, which brought together leaders from five non-BRICS countries to join the summit: namely, Egypt, Mexico Tajikistan, Guinea and Thailand - quite a surprising range. Leaders discussed new ways of improving ties, with a particular emphasis on south-south cooperation. Something to watch out for in future.

And having this more diversified network of development partners through BRICS Plus would certainly increase the BRICS potential, giving them even more clout in the global economy. As Xi Jinping said, more input from emerging countries is not intended, quote, "to take the cheese of anyone", but to "make the pie of the global economy bigger."

Number two: the Xiamen Declaration

Our second key point from this year's meeting is the so-called Xiamen Declaration, offering some indications of the BRICS future development. The document, signed by BRICS leaders on Monday, set out the bloc's future goals and reaffirmed some of its core values. Really useful for getting a sense of the BRICS direction.

For example, leaders agreed to strengthen BRICS presence in international fora and to improve coordination in areas of common interest within the UN and other multilateral institutions. In essence to make the bloc's voice louder.

Leaders also said they would improve anti-corruption coordination, noting that corruption is damaging to economic growth and sustainable development.

Anti-terrorism measures were mentioned in the Xiamen Declaraion, with leaders condeming terrorism in all its forms and agreeing to improve coordinated efforts against it.

But perhaps the most timely issue in the Declaration was the joint response to the ongoing tensions on the Korean Peninsula. Together the BRICS leaders condemned the DPRK's latest nuclear test and said the situation should be, quote, "settled through peaceful means and direct dialogue of all parties concerned."

And finally, number three: the Belt and Road Initiative.

Now you will have already heard a lot about the project. First proposed by China in 2013, it's designed to increase connectivity across Asia, Africa and Europe along old trade routes, including the Silk Road, both the land and sea routes. But how does that connect to the BRICS Summit?

Well there was much discussion of the convergence of the two blocs. The already strong economic cooperation in place from the BRICS bloc could help support, or offer a foundation event, for new projects under the more recent Belt and Road Initiative.

Moreover, the similarities in aims between BRICS and the Belt and Road Initiative were also stressed. Policy consultation, infrastructure, free trade, free circulation of local currencies, and people exchange, all these are aims shared by both BRICS and the Belt and Road Initiative. So their common interests suggests the two could share practices, meaning mutual learning might help speed up projects on both sides.

So to finish off, we can see much of the discussions at 9th BRICS Summit showed how more emerging countries are seeking a stronger voice in the global arena, and perhaps point to new forms or directions in global governance, forming a major counterweight to rising anti-globalization..

So that was the top three points at this year's BRICS Summit. For more coverage, highlights and interviews go to our website at en.cncnews.cn. But for now, it's bye from Talk BRICS.